SALEM, VA--The third-ranked Yellow Jackets of Randolph-Macon College survived a scare from the Roanoke College Maroons on the men's basketball court on Sunday afternoon, pulling out a tight 61-59 win in Salem, VA. The Yellow Jackets improve to 10-0 on the season and 4-0 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference and have now won four straight over the Maroons. Host Roanoke, which lost to RMC 69-66 last season in Salem when the Yellow Jackets were ranked #1 in the D3Hoops.com poll, fall to 4-5 on the year, 1-2 in the ODAC.
Leading by 10 points, 59-49, with 3:58 to play, the Yellow Jackets went on a scoring slump, getting just two points the rest of the way. The Maroons in the meantime, sparked by two steals from junior Drew Crowder (Radford, VA/Radford), scored 10 points to cut the lead to one, 60-59, with 16 seconds to play. Crowder got both of his steals off of the Maroon full court press, finishing one with a layup himself and dishing the other to Jason Graffam (Vienna, VA/Marshall). Randolph-Macon capped its scoring with seven seconds left on a free throw by Jamal Brunt. After Brunt missed the second of his two shots, Graffam corralled the rebound and dished the ball to Robby Pridgen (Akron, OH/St. Vincent-St.Mary). Pridgen took the ball the length of the court, but was unable to get off a shot over the swarming RMC defense before time expired.
The Yellow Jackets scored the first four points of the game and held the Maroons off the board for the first three-plus minutes, but the Maroons then went on a 10-0 run and led 10-4 with 14:16 to go. Jared Mills scored the next eight points, six coming on three-pointers to give RMC the lead back at 12-10. The Maroons were able to recapture the lead and hold it until 4:36 to go in the first half after a three-pointer by Kurt Bergmann gave RMC the 25-24 advantage. Graffam drained a three with 1:52 to go in the opening half sending the game into the locker-rooms tied at 27.
Randolph-Macon controlled the first 14 minutes of play in the second half, taking as much as a 12-point lead, that at 54-42 with 5:49 to play. Just over a minute later, the Maroons would make their comeback attempt that would fall short.
Mills was outstanding in the game, going 10-for-10 from the field, finishing with 25 points. He made just three of his seven free throw attempts, however, and as a team the Yellow Jackets went just 4-for-12 from the line. Brunt was the team's second leading scorer, dropping in seven, but more importantly held Roanoke's leading scorer, Pridgen, to just 11 points, 13 lower than his season's average.
Josh Foster (Roanoke, VA/Roanoke Valley Christian) scored Roanoke's first eight points of the game and finished with a team-high 14, a number matched by Graffam. Graffam also added 11 rebounds. The Maroons outrebounded the Yellow Jackets, but were outscored 21-9 from behind the three-point line. Five of RMC's seven three-pointers came in the first half.
The Maroons return to action on Wednesday as they travel to Boston, MA to play Division I Harvard University. The game in Boston begins at 7:00pm.
